Role in nascent peace process remembered

North reaction: Former SDLP leader John Hume yesterday expressed sympathy to the Haughey family and said he was sure there was…

North reaction: Former SDLP leader John Hume yesterday expressed sympathy to the Haughey family and said he was sure there was "total sympathy" in Ireland for the family.

"Throughout his political career, particularly as taoiseach, peace and justice in the North was right at the top of his agenda. He strongly supported my dialogue with Gerry Adams and he worked very closely with me in getting the Downing Street Declaration which led to the ending of violence," he said.

Current SDLP leader Mark Durkan said Mr Haughey was directly involved in incubating and cultivating the earliest prospects for a peace process.

"That is a something that has never been properly acknowledged by those who disparaged him for other things," he said.

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Mr Durkan said Mr Haughey was a "landmark figure" in Irish political life over the last half century. "When he became taoiseach in 1979, he advocated a new British-Irish approach to the North's problems, and he took the founding steps to achieve this. Among his paradoxes was the fact that he then opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement when in opposition in 1985," he said.

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, in extending condolences to the Haughey family, said republicans, like everyone else on the island, would have mixed feelings on his contribution to Irish society. "But that is a debate for another day. Today is a time to allow his family to grieve and our thoughts are with them."

DUP MEP Jim Allister said "objective history" would not judge Mr Haughey well.

"His nefarious association with the gunrunning, which spawned the murderous Provisional IRA, showed an animus towards Northern Ireland which pervaded his belligerent approach," he said. "In office his corruptive style brought Southern politics into disrepute as he made sleaze and trickery his speciality."

Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey said his death marked the passing of the "last of the old Fianna Fáil bosses".

"Most unionists will remember Mr Haughey from his early days when he was implicated in the arms scandal. Many also believed that he and others were involved in the setting up of the Provisional IRA," he said. "He will also be remembered for his statement that Northern Ireland was a 'failed political entity'."

Alliance leader David Ford said Mr Haughey's name had its negative associations, but his positive contribution to Irish political life must not be overlooked.

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty

Gerry Moriarty is the former Northern editor of The Irish Times